Friday

[rolanni]

And not just any Friday, but the Friday before "fall break"! Which means I had my choice of prime parking places this morning.

Saw one of the maintenance folks on my way up to the office. "Looking forward to your vacation?" they asked.

And we both laughed.

It's a bright and shiny day here in the neighborhood. I've got some errands to run around campus a little later, which will be pleasant. My desk is clear for the moment, though I expect to be doing some data entry a little later, when the mail hits. Otherwise, it looks to be a quiet day.

Which is fine.

I made my various to-do lists* yesterday and own myself a little intimated by the sheer mass of stuff that needs doing, on all fronts. I mean, really, some of these lists have sub-lists. To-do lists usually make me feel like an utter slug, just frittering time away instead of doing Needful Things, and this one's a doozy. Maybe if I do one thing from each section every day until, oh, 2015, I'll get it all finished?

It's a plan.

How do you manage your to-do lists? Who's caught up?

---------
* Carousel Tides Launch party list
House list
Writing list
Office (home and SRM) list
Cat list

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Lists?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

This may be where I'm going wrong...

to do

[kalilama.livejournal.com]

I write to do lists and then never look at them again until weeks later and am then charmed by how many things I actually did without remembering they were on the list. I guess writing the list down somehow organizes my brain. And of course there are some things that just keep getting moved from list to list and I never do them because I didn't want to in the first place. :-)

Then there's procrastination, which is why I am sitting here writing this instead of finishing the report that is due to NSF soon...like today.

[saruby.livejournal.com]

List? I'm supposed to have a list?

Lists?

[(Anonymous)]

I make lists - to do lists, packing lists, and shopping lists. That last is usually a sub-set of a to do list, organized by where I need to run errands. The making of the list helps get me organized and in the past, I rarely actually referred to the list again. The older I get, however, the more I find myself actually checking the list to see what I've forgotten - and being pleased with myself when I can actually check things off the list! Of course some things, like doing the laundry, tend to stay on the list until there is no choice - do the laundry or go naked.....
Mary
Currently on vacation in sunny Williamsburg... :-)

[joycependle.livejournal.com]

I make stacks of letters that have to be answered and bills that have to be paid. My niece's graduation announcement went on one such stack two summers ago - I found it yesterday. The stack had had to be hidden for Christmas and, well...

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

to do lists?
I write things that HAVE to be done today on post it notes, and stick them on the computer frame. Then I do them, one at a time....
And I write notes on paper, everywhere, whenever I think of something that needs to be done. and at the end of the day, I add the things that I actually did, and cross THEM off... it at least makes me feel as though I've accomplished SOMETHING.

[adriannem.livejournal.com]

Caught up??? What a laugh!!!

I manage my ToDos on OmniFocus, and I only look at the top five emergencies in any one day. Lots of stuff falls off the bottom of the list and I eventually delete it because there will never be time to do it all.

Happy fall break!

[mardott.livejournal.com]

To Do Lists with sub-lists. I can so empathize.
No solutions, though. Sorry.

[elektra.livejournal.com]

I use the palm desktop (and an actual palm tungsten e) to manage todo lists. But I'm way behind (due to hospital etc.), and I'm taking the weekend off and trying to work around panels at Albacon. I did have a lovely breakfast with Mr. Miller this morning, though . . . . would have been even better if you could have been here. Love and hugs to you and all the kitties.

to do list

[(Anonymous)]

Schredder!

[(Anonymous)]

If it's urgent (as in Has To Happen Today), I write a list. Otherwise, I do keep piles. Piles in the Inbox, Piles in my purse,
Piles in my Condo. I *do* manage to get thru most of the piles
at various points in the week.

I vaguely recall a class in time management talking about
Important v. Urgent and how they aren't always
synonymous. If you spend all your time on the Very Urgent,
you may never get to the Very Important, and therefore miss
kid's graduations, parent's birthdays, etc, etc...the suggestion
was that you bump the Important up on the to do list and set aside
some time each day to accomplish part of the Important so you
don't ignore it. Mind you, the devil is in the details on this.

I still fall off the wagon periodically but I'm getting better
at saying No and sticking to it - or saying Not Until Next Month.
Yes, some folks may get grumpy but you will be a more sane individual for all of it.

G'luck
Lauretta@ConstellationBooks

[berneynator.livejournal.com]

I personally quite like crossing off items on my to-do list. It does sometimes get overwhelming to look at, though. I try to prioritize it and get at least a few items done each day.

The Keeper of the Lists

[(Anonymous)]

I am down to just three lists:

"Things that must be done or the Universe as we know it will end!"
(This list is limited to three items at a time, after all I am not a Super-Hero... alas)

"The Big Picture"
(Things that truly need to happen, but are not universe threatening...)

"Would be nice"
(This is for everyday stuff, like buy more vitamins on the way home... this is also the list that I add things already accomplished, just so I can have teh pleasure of marking them off)

I give myself a Peet's Coffee Mocha "bonus allowance" as a special treat for anything marked off the first two lists and for every ten things marked off the "would be nice", I don't actually get all that many mochas, but considering getting back down to "collage weight" is on my Big Picture List as "50 looms" that is OK

Hap

Re: The Keeper of the Lists

[baobrien.livejournal.com]

The list of accomplishments works for my sister, a teacher who has summers "off", and used to write long to-do lists for each summer and be stressed about what wasn't done in August. She now makes a list of what she HAS done - and it works better for her.

I'm in the priority list category myself, tracking what absolutely must happen each weekend. But those can be overruled by "get more sleep" and "read good book(s)" or "have fun with friends/family".

[enleve.livejournal.com]

I make a lot of lists, and I like how it helps me organize my thoughts and it keeps track of things, so I don't have to keep them buzzing around my brain.

I don't think that being "caught up" is a useful concept when it comes to the lists. That's like being caught up with the water in a stream.

I often write lists in my calendar, putting each task in the first available time slot where I think I might be able to work on it. I sometimes have separate lists for more complex projects that don't fit in my calendar book.

Not everything on my list will be something that I'll do. I prioritize and rethink things often.

The lists don't make me feel like a slug. I usually get satisfaction out of organizing my thoughts on paper, and then satisfaction again when I make progress on the items that I want to get done. The lists help make things less intimidating, not more, for me.

[timepiece]

I just moved to a different state. I don't think I'll ever be caught up again. It's been a week and there's still an entire room filled with boxes.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

My to-do list is much like my to-be-read book pile. Neither really exists as a physical entity and I don't particularly intend to ever finish either. I'm very good at finding things to do and books to read and not having any more of either would be boring. I do try to stay caught-up on the things that really need to be done NOW. How well I do at that varies.